The AK-47: 50 years old and still going strong.

No combat weapon is better known or has achieved the same cult status as the ubiquitous AK-47. In the 50 years since it first rolled off the production line in Russia, the AK-47 has been at the centre of all violent political upheavals in Africa. But what exactly is its appeal? Milan Vesely takes a closer look at the 'people's weapon'.

The AK-47 assault rifle - five kilos of deadly mayhem - has changed the political landscape of Africa. Because of it's firepower, Rhodesia gave way to Zimbabwe, apartheid ceased to exist, Mobutu Sese Seko's dynasty crashed and the Somali nation disintegrated; on the other hand, also because of the AK-47, millions have lost their lives, children have become hardened soldiers and the gunman has become king even in the remotest regions of the continent.

The Automat Kalashnikova 1947 (AK-47) is 50-years-old and still continues to exert an influence far greater than any other combat weapon.

From the drought plagued scrublands of the Sudan to the concrete jungle of South Africa, the banana-magazine Kalashnikov is the weapon of choice. It has become the standard issue for regular army professionals, fuzzy chinned boy guerrillas and hardened urban-cowboy gangsters. Nothing beats it for settling political or personal disputes.

There are an estimated 20m AK-47s on the continent. At an average cost of $50 a gun, this represents a staggering $1bn of 7.62mm firepower. And more of the cheap and highly efficient Weapons keep coming in. African defence spending in 1998 is up by 3%, much of it for small arms and ammunition, most of it for Mr Kalashnikov's familiar hardware.

The AK-47 was born in Izhevsk, Udmertiya Republic in the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Designed by a wounded, self-trained 23-year-old sergeant, Mikhail Kalashnikov, the AK-47 went into production in 1949. Produced for a hard pressed Soviet army, the lightweight assault rifle fundamentally changed the way men kill.

It's effect on Africa has been of seismic proportions. In one quantum leap, liberation movements jumped from the Mau Mau's single shot Enfield.303 to SWAPO's and Umkhonto we Sizwe's 36-round rapid fire Kalashnikov. More than any other single weapon, the AK-47 destroyed the myth of white colonial power.

In the blunt words of Chairman Mao Tse Tung, power truly came from the barrel of the gun - the AK-47 in particular.

Its rapid rise is easy to understand: it rarely malfunctions, is easy to use, and has a blurring 100 round-per-minute firepower.

The standard AK-47 never ages. The 1950s and 70s versions are still as effective as the newer lightweight AKM 48-round version. With crudeness deliberately built-in, it can be cleaned by dragging a pebble through the barrel or wiped down with a dried banana frond. It was originally tested by being hauled through the dirt behind a truck. Its pressed steel design is so simple that even an 11-year-old Mai-Mai soldier in the Ruwenzori Mountains can assemble and disassemble one blindfolded.

Mr Kalashnikov's assault rifle also acts as currency. Moving adroitly from hand to hand, the Kalashnikovs supplied to Uganda by the Soviets were then passed on to the Tutsi in Rwanda, who in turn supplied Laurent Kabila's ADFL in the Congo. Now those same guns are coming back to bite the hand that fed their transient owners. The Mai-Mai rebels fighting to overthrow President Kabila's government were supplied with AK-47s - and their Chinese SKS version by Mr Kabila's supporters less than a year ago. In nearby Uganda, many of the weapons being used by the Lord's Resistance Army and the Allied Democratic Front guerrillas were captured by the Sudanese from Joseph Garang's SPLA who in turn had them courtesy of the Uganda government.

Fuelling a second tier arms industry, these hand-me-downs are being sold on behalf of cash strapped governments to Hutu insurgents in Rwanda and Burundi, rebels in Sierra Leone and even to independence seeking islanders in the Comoros. Constantly recycled, they are a cash generating source of revenue for shady middlemen from Beirut to Cape Town.

Any guerrilla organisation can buy supplies from huge inventories in China, Bulgaria, Albania and any republic in Europe and the Far East. If cash flow is difficult, no problem. Ammunition can be stolen from any African police station or bought with a chicken stolen from the nearby village. Diamonds, gold, ivory and coffee are all acceptable barter for the deadly copper and brass cartridges.

International blueprint

Many derivatives of the AK-47 are in service in Africa. Governments use them for proxy wars, policy manipulation, and even as camouflage. To disown responsibility for arming Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola, the United States used Israeli captured Kalashnikovs as incentive. "We're not responsible," the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations were able to say, "the guns are of communist origin." The same was said by the apartheid regime when arming Mozambique's Renamo guerrillas with Kalashnikovs captured from Swapo guerrillas in Namibia.

The AK-47 was used to assassinate President Anwar Sadat in Egypt, critically wound Somali war-lord Farah Aideed in Mogadishu and gun down Charles Taylor's opposition in Liberia.

Like many market success stories, the AK-47 suffers from its own achievements. Today the Izhevsk Machine Works, which in 1991 employed over 50,000 people has less than 30,000 workers on its books, many on part-time schedules. Imitated by the Czechs, Bulgarians, and Chinese, the Russians are no longer able to compete. Norinco, the Chinese manufacturer, has branched out into international commodity trading and signs barter agreements for raw materials in exchange for its SKS models.

Other armament manufacturers have latched onto the AK-47 bandwagon. The South African Defence Force's standard issue R4 infantry weapon is a modified copy of the AK-47, as is the Israeli Army's Galil. Designer Yisrael Galili, according to an embittered Mikhail Kalashnikov, did not even show the courtesy of thanking him after 'stealing' his design. "He didn't have any consideration," fumed the irritated Russian during a ceremony commemorating his 75th birthday when he was awarded Russia's top medal - 'For Services to the Homeland' - from President Boris Yeltsin on April 8, 1998.

The AK-47's versatility is another feather in its cap. Apart from its effectiveness long range, it is a hand to hand weapon as well. Supplied in many versions, the clipped-under-the-barrel needle bayonet is still the most popular stabbing tool. For cutting as well as stabbing power, the clipped-on six inch knife blade bayonet is a deadly alternative. Simply attached and folded away, this feature solved the problem of instant bayonet deployment.

The AK-47 achieved its greatest fame as a terrorist weapon. Because of its stubby two foot length, it is easily concealed under a coat. This was the weapon used by Black September to kill Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, by the Japanese Red Army Brigade at Lod airport in 1982 and by Muslim Brotherhood fundamentalists assassinating Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Many regular African armies use the AK-74, the latest version of the AK-47. Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania on the eastern seaboard are matched by Angola, Congo and Namibia to the west. In the north, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Chad and Libya also use the standard Kalashnikov. 70m AK-47s and their derivatives are now in the hands of armed forces in 55 countries world-wide.

Africa is undergoing a fundamental change on its march to democracy. Mikhail Timofeievich Kalashnikov's assault rifle is a major tool in effecting this. Like the multipurpose chicken, the AK-47 is a fact of life on the African landscape. In celebrating their own half-century of momentous history, generations of Africans can only hope that Mr Kalashnikov's brainchild becomes the guardian of peace rather than the weapon of continued instability.